


Checkmate

by TreeTopHeart



Category: White Collar (TV 2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemons, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:08:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28714062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TreeTopHeart/pseuds/TreeTopHeart
Summary: Season 3 episode 11: “Checkmate”Neal and Keller are on their way to the warehouse stowed away in the hidden compartment of the National Guard transport truck. Keller offers Neal a deal.Daemon AU.
Relationships: Neal Caffrey & Matthew Keller, Neal Caffrey/Matthew Keller
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Checkmate

**Author's Note:**

> Daemons:  
> Neal Caffrey, magpie (f)- Asmita  
> Matthew Keller, abyssian cat (f)- Navya

The hidden compartment of the National Guard transport truck was warm, and Neal was beginning to sweat. He couldn’t see Keller and his daemon, but he was keenly aware of them, nonetheless. Asmita sat on his shoulder and said nothing, moving only to extend and shake out her wings before settling back down again. The silence was broken only by the sounds of traffic outside and the heavy churn of the truck’s wheels as they turned against the roadway. Occasionally, a heavy clunk and screech broke the monotony as the brakes were employed.

Asmita ruffled her feathers again before bending down to whisper in Neal’s ear. “All of this because of your long-lost Nazi treasure.” Her feathers rustled softly. “I wish it had burned.”

Neal didn’t take the bait. The treasure had long been a point of contention between him and his daemon. She had been nearly superstitious in her dislike of the pillaged Russian art. _“It smells wrong.”_ She had told him and had shuffled anxiously around on his shoulder. _“It won’t bring us anything but trouble.”_

Asmita ducked her head again and pecked him gently, her peak catching at the shell of his ear. Neal let out a soft hum to placate her. She had been right to be fearful of the consequences of something that appeared so fortuitous, but he wasn’t ready to admit to himself that he had been greedy, gluttonous even, in the way he had raked his eyes over his hoard.

The sudden flick of a lighter caused Neal to tense as the tiny compartment was illuminated. Matthew Keller was cast in a hazy, flickering gold light that played with the shadows of his face. Lying out on the ground next to him, his daemon Navya gazed at him languidly with bright yellow eyes. Her russet fur gave her slender body a fiery glowing quality in the uneven light.

“Remind you of the good old days, buddy?”

Neal broke eye contact with Navya to fix Keller with a long stare. Keller sat with his back to the compartment, his eyes looking out, unfocused. “You’re using all the oxygen.” He said to the side of Keller’s face.

Keller turned his head and the look in his eyes sharpened. “You see, after that last time, we were sneaking out of somewhere because you got caught in bed with that princess.”

“I didn’t get caught in bed with her.” Neal began.

“They found him on the ledge outside her window.” Asmita interrupted and hopped down from Neal’s shoulder to stand on the floor. Both Keller and his daemon’s eyes followed her movements.

“They did, didn’t they.” Keller agreed with her, his eyes shifting back up to Neal’s. “I remember seeing you standing there with nothing but a solid-gold tray covering your junk.” Keller paused and ran a finger down the spine of his daemon. The Abyssinian let out a low rumbling purr, but her yellow eyes remained focused on the magpie daemon in front of her. “I was the one that got you down from there before they started shooting at you.”

Neal watched his face carefully. Keller looked almost wistful in the low lighting and his eyes lacked the usual hard look that Neal associated with impending violence. “You had my back then.” Neal said, his voice heavy.

“Like I said, ‘the good old days.’” Keller replied, a levity that only read as somewhat forced in his gravelly voice. His eyes travelled down Neal’s body before returning to his face. Keller’s eyes were dark and heavy, and Neal wasn’t under any illusions about which part of the “good old days” Keller was currently thinking about.

“They were.” Neal agreed slowly. The weight behind Keller’s gaze somehow continued to increase. Neal could feel his heartbeat begin to tick up and he could feel his excitement echoed in Asmita. “What happened to you, Keller?”

Keller fixed him with a vicious smile. “I could ask the same thing to you, Neal.”

Navya leapt from her place next to Keller. Asmita let out a sound of alarm and began to take flight only to be batted down out of the air and pinned under Navya.

Neal felt the impact like a kick to the chest and he gasped for air. “Keller—”

“Neal.” Keller replied evenly and Navya slowly flexed the claws of the paw holding one of Asmita’s wings to the floor.

Neal had once been witness to Navya’s savage dismemberment of a security guard’s daemon. He had watched in horror as she surgically removed the creature’s delicate wings with a single claw. The man had been frothing at the mouth by the time she finally took it upon herself to just kill it.

His eyes flicked to Asmita, she was lying stretched out, flat on her back, her chest rapidly expanding and contracting with each quick breath. She didn’t attempt to struggle as Navya leaned to rub her face across her body, marking the bird with her scent glands.

“Neal, we can have those days back.” Keller’s gaze drifted down to Neal’s lips. “You just have to want them.”

“No,” Neal blurted, “We can’t—we can’t, Mat.”

A growl rumbled out from Navya from where she remained atop Neal’s daemon. The Abyssian’s sleek, narrow face was inches away from Asmita—her teeth bared, fangs worryingly close to the magpie’s neck.

Keller’s face twisted into something made all the more frightening by the poor light. “Of course we can, Neal. In the dark, whose to know? It could all just be a dream, the product of an overactive imagination.”

Neal scanned his face, looking for any indication of deceit or mocking. It was always games with Keller, he was always looking for the next score at any cost. But, it felt… well, it felt like a genuine offer. In his own way, Neal could see that Keller was offering him a gift, that he was trying to be kind by suggesting Neal could pretend it was back before their differences had gotten the better of them. Neal wondered if Keller was right, would it feel like a dream? There wasn’t any use in feeling guilty about dreams, after all.

Keller seemed to see that thought on Neal’s face and snuffed the lighter out. Asmita let out a trill that was somewhere between frightened and thrilled and Neal could feel the sentiment echoed in himself. His heart began to beat faster as the silence stretched—he held his breath for a moment, before making his decision.

“Mat?” He breathed.

There was a moment of quiet before, “I’m here, Neal.”

Neal reached a tentative hand out into the darkness until the tips of his fingers found the hard surface of Keller’s knee. Keller let out a muffled gasp at the contact, as if he hadn’t really believed Neal would take him up on his offer. The sound of the startled breath flooded Neal with something hot and thick. How long had it been? It had rarely been gentle between them, but Neal wondered if Keller had grown more vicious in the meantime. The thought caused something in his stomach to tighten.

Neal flattened his palm against the fabric of Keller’s pants, letting it trail up to the other man’s hip. He savored the feeling of the other man’s body heat as it bled through the sturdy weave of the denim up into his hand. Neal paused and pressed his thumb into Keller’s hipbone, pressed _hard_.

Navya hissed and took that moment as an opportunity to lower her head and rasp her tongue across Asmita’s wing, following the direction of her feathers.

If Neal had been standing, his knees would have buckled. It was like an electric current had been sent racing along his spine, it was sharp and painful, and it left a feeling in its wake that caused the hairs on the back of Neal’s neck to stand up. His eyes shot to the two daemons where they struggled with each other on the floor. He didn’t even notice Keller had grasped his extended arm until it was sharply yanked. Off balance, Neal tumbled forward and collided roughly with Keller.

“No need to be shy, Neal, baby.” Keller growled, his hot breath ghosting the shell of Neal’s ear. Navya let out a satisfied, rumbling purr of agreement. “I’ve missed you.”


End file.
